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Cornwall Council
The Cornwall Council is the local authority to have control at a minor level over the east coast settlement of Cornwall. Due to the political nature within the settlement, In 1920 the Cornwall Council was created to have a government sector involved in the settlement and allow for devolved spending and regulations on the citizens in the town. The town has had four local political parties during the course of it's history. Essentially due to the laws in the City, only local parties may run in the Cornwall Council, a law passed in 1927 stating so. This was to not have larger parties pour large amounts of political capital and money into the town, instead elections would be free from corporate and trade union interest, each to a certain extent, and allow for more democratic elections. The Council was deemed void in 2010 when the Federal Government created a huge power centralization. Protests broke out against the ruling from the Congress but, the Council was shut down. With a new wave of devolution and local law, the Council re-activated the power vested in the Council, all laws and regulations, were imposed instantly in April of 2013. Composition The Cornwall Council is made up of 15 councilors, four elected from single districts and one Council President elected from the entire populous and the remanding ten elected from Party list Proportional representation. The Council is governed on a parliamentary basis of the majority party controlling the Council. The Council President serves as a speaker of the Council, which also has a vote just also serving as a speaker for the body. The majority party's leader is known as the Mayor of Cornwall, the Council President cannot be the mayor, which occurred after Cornwall corruption scandal of 1927 dealing with a coup d'eat in the Council. The Council elects new councilpersons every five years, but a new election can be called if a motion of no confidence is called. Elections for the council can only occur in the summer around either June, July or August. By-elections can occur at any time when they need to be held. Of the 14 single districts in Cornwall, about eight of them are located in the east/downtown of the settlement, another three in the middle of settlement, and another three of them in south. Redistricting occurs every 15 years for council districts. Current Council ... History 1920s Founded in 1920 by proclamation of the settlers in Cornwall, the Council was founded with regulations and rules to create the Council and the process. The Cornwall Council elections, 1920 occurred resulting in a Cornish Progressive Party victory and the first council comprised. With the creation of education standards, fishing regulations and the construction of the Baxter Primary School, named after the first Mayor of Cornwall, Craig Baxter. In the Cornwall Council elections, 1925 the Progressive Party remained in control but Mayor Baxter tried asserting himself to Council President in a power struggle, which resulted in sweeping regulations and laws to crack down on corruption, to stop the outside funding of elections, to stop federal parties from running in elections, and not allow the Mayor to be Council President and vice versa. As economic times hit hard new elections were held for political and economic reasons. The Cornwall Council elections, 1929 led to the first Conservatives council government. They took some measures in spurring private economic growth which was able to stabilize the economy for just a short period of time. They passed the Cornwall naming referendum, 1929 which changed the name of the settlement from "New Cornwall" to just "Cornwall". The pitch sold to voters was that it would create a few new jobs to create new signs and on a cultural note to be closer to their cultural roots, by ditching the "new" part. 1930s-1950s The depression hit hardest in the 30s as unemployment rose to 26% in the town. With little to no social welfare and growing poverty, a new coalition government was elected in 1934. It was a mixture of Progressives and Moderate Party councilors. New public sector measures of building roads and fixing problems in the docks. A major project, the Cornwall Lighthouse was started in 1936 and completed in 1938. The Progressives and Moderates won more control and power for the Council and local citizens in the "Cooperson Deal" struck between Proportional Representation councilor Dean Cooperson and Ryan Jensen from the Federal Government. The deal was only suppose to last for ten years but stuck until 2010. By the end of the decade unemployment went back down to about 4.5%. The Party continued their economic matters in the Cornwall Council elections, 1939 by nationalizing all matters relating to the docking and water economy in the town under the Cornwall Water Industry. The nationalizing led to the Moderate Party splitting in two. Some of the members went to the Liberal Future which stayed with the government, the others wanting to keep it privatized stayed in the Moderate Party. The company was completely privatized again by the 1950s. The Cornish Progressive Party stayed in power during the 1944 and 1949 elections each time with support from the Liberal Future. In 1953 the council created four more districts due to the population rebounding in the settlement, the move was accepted but was mostly unpopular. Then the Conservatives then came into power, during the Cornwall Council elections, 1954 cutting public spending and decreasing councilor pay each by 4%. The Conservatives continued with sweeping privatization, a popular move, of Cornwall Water taking it away from being state controlled. The Conservatives stayed in power with the 1959 elections. During this time the need for education was ignored by the council and led to growing concern in the community. 1960s-1980s The Progressives came to power for one term during the Cornwall Council elections, 1964 with 12 seats including the Council Presidency. This led to the Cornwall education referendum, 1966 to create Cornwall's only high school in the settlement and allow for a tax hike, on income and property, to pay for it. Cornwall Village School (Founded as Cornwall Hamlet School) was created serving ages 10-16. The council passed an additional tax raise on small businesses to 2.4% up 1% which resulted in the Party not returning to power in the next elections. A long time Conservative Party control of the council occured from 1969 to 1984 with the Party winning the Cornwall Council elections, 1969, Cornwall Council elections, 1974 and Cornwall Council elections, 1979. It was the longest running time in government for any Party without coalition or support from outside Parties. During this time counciler pay increased, trading regulation decreased, income tax decreased on all citizens 0.9%, and Party had to deal with the 1979 Cornwall floods which destroyed some of the Cornwall Dock and damaged homes and businesses. The Party delt with it very well, and while some questioned the quickness of the dock being rebuilt the Conservatives returned to Council in the Cornwall Council elections, 1984 this time with a coalition from Liberal Future. After the increasing concern about motor vechicals in Cornwall, the coalition government held the third ever referendum on the speed of vechials in the inner settlement limits like near docks and schools and on the outer city limits on the roads and townhouses. The first referendum stated a speed limit of 30mph was imposed within the settlement's limits, the second stated 50mph was acceptable on the outside of the settlement's limits. 1990s After a minor recession in the west side of the Hamlet the voters again decreased the seats Conservatives had on the Council in the 1989 elections. For the first time ever in a twist of events, the Progressives and Conservatives had to coalition to form a majority on the council. During this time the debt held by the council increased 30% and growing concern came from the citizens in the town. After the coalition was elected with the same seats as last time in the Cornwall Council elections, 1994 the town went under a minor period of austerity which raised unemployment to 9%, but was approved through use of the Cornwall financial referendum, 1995 which layed off teachers, buracratic workers and imposed a tax rise of 1.2% on all citizens. The Council's reputation took another hit when an expenses scandal occurred as two Progressive councilers and one conservative counciler were found to be writing off personal payments as expenses for the Council. Each counciler was sent to a seven year prision term, had to repay all damages and lost their jobs on the council. By-elections were held for the three seats, each won by the respective parties again. 2000s Population stayed steady for awhile instead of increasing due to the education cuts, but later increased. Since both the Progressives and Conservatives weren't greatly trusted in the Cornwall Council elections, 1999 for the first time ever Liberal Future was elected with a majority. The Environment Committee, along with the Liberal majority, created about 50 new jobs to protect Rider Mountain and the natural environment around the settlement such as the water and parks. The agency would be managed by the Environment Committee and reports every four months would be given to the Committee. The move along with a deacrease in all public sector workers by 1%, new hiring of primary school teachers, and keeping property, income, and business taxes the same. Elections were called a year early only because of the Liberal Future's policy of four year election cycles. That same year in 2000, the population in Cornwall had reached over 500 and now instead of being a Hamlet it was now a Village. A celebration was held in front of the Cornwall Town Square. In the Cornwall Council elections, 2003, Liberal Future won again with a reduced majority of only eight seats. The lack of confidence in the Party led to a quick election in June of 2005. The Cornish Progressive Party returned to power without a coalition partner, the first time since 1969. While the government was mostly mediocre the actions it took months before election day kept it in power. 2010s The move paid off as the Party was reelected in the 2010. Since the election taxes have been raised on the highest income earners by 1.2% and property taxes up 0.1%. The town has been mostly not phased by the global recession due to local banking regulation. As the Federal Government had stripped localities of their power and recognition in 2010, Cornwall's Council and local government stayed open in defiance to the ruling. The Federal Government said they would take no action in shutting the Council down, and it stayed open. Having no State or Federal aid to pay for certain needs like Firefighters or Policemen the Council created the Cornwall Police and Fire Authority which hired back the old policemen and firefighters to serve on the force. The Council's power was taken away and with no power, it was effectively shut down. Large protests broke out in the Town Square, but to no avail. In April of 2013 the Council was re-established on the wave of devolution and state law. The old rules, regulations, other laws were instantly put back into power. New elections were called for a new council to be held along with a referendum on imposing a sales tax, known as the Cornwall Council elections and referendum, 2013. Payment Over time councilors have had varying pay for their terms in the Council. From 1920 to 1936 the yearly salary for a Councilor was about 1300 dollars, and the Council President and Mayor receiving salaries of 1,405 dollars. An increase in pay was made to 2000 dollars for all councilers in 1941 and in 1950 another 200 dollars was added to sallaries. Seeing this as too high a salary, Conservatives cut pay again by 4% to 2,112 dollars per year. By 1963 Conservatives made an unpopular move of increasing councilor pay by 50 dollars right before the elections. In 1970 the salary of councilers was increased to 5,050 dollars per year, with the Mayor and Council President recieving 5,500 dollars. A controversial vote in 1984 increased pay for councilers again, this time finally in line with an average wage to 13,900 dollars for all councilers. A final pay raise was created, last in 2009 which now stands at 20,698 per year for all councilers. Thoughout the course of the Council all expenses have been paid for matters around the Council to get to the building and around it. The 1996 Cornwall expenses scandal showed that two Progressive councilers, and one Conservative counciler had taken claimed extra expenses on there government credit card and resulted in them loding their jobs, repaying all damages, and serving each a 7 year jail sentence. Meeting The council schedual has only changed three times throught Cornwall's history. The first schedual was broken up into two sessions. Since elections are to be held in June, July or August (for full council elections), the "winter" session occured from November to January with Mondays to Wensdays the council in session, and a break for Christmas and New Years taking place. The second "spring" schedual went from mid March to May with a two week break for easter The schedual changed in 1940 when for the first time ever the councilers were in session from October to January in there "winter" session. This continued until 2000 when the council voted 9-6 to change it once more. This time the council would in session during the "winter" session from November to January but from Mondays to Thursdays. Spring sessions were kept the same. The practice of Mayor's Question Time first took place in 1922, when on noon of each Wensday in session the Mayor would be asked questions from his fellow councilers. This event has never changed its timing, and usually only takes about 10 minutes. Committee Chairman are never allowed to be questioned on Mondays, and usually are from any of the Council's Parties. Committees The Council has always functioned on using Westminster style debate and practice along with a strong prescensce and use of the Committees. Each Committee has five members, one of them being a Committee head. The Committee's composition changes after five years or whenever a new election for the entire body is held. Matters on the Council's rules, codes and practices of the Council aren't put into committee but rather dicussed in the entire chamber. Here are some of the former and current Committees *Environmental (founded 1969) *Social, Equality, and Police (founded in 1920 just as "Community", changed in 2010) *Zoning (founded in 1920) *Budget (founded in 1920) *Economy (founded in 1921) *Education (founded in 1924) *Matters of Fishing and Docking (founded in 1920 just as "Fishers") *Matters of Trade and Commerce (founded in 1924 just as "Trading") *(former 1930 - 1955) Cornwall Water Industry Committee *(former 1920 - 1934) Settlers *(former 1945 - 1950) Post-Depression Category:Local politics Category:Clymene Category:Cornwall